Overview

An ever-expanding critical library on fantasy fiction requires an analysis of why the genre is so ubiquitous, enduring and beloved. This work analyzes the mythic elements in foundational fantasy texts, arguing that mythopoeic fantasy reveals timeless truths that link human cultures past and present. Through close readings of works like Phantastes, The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, A Wizard of Earthsea, The Neverending Story, A Wrinkle in Time and Out of the Silent Planet, this book explores how mythopoeic fantasy speaks to the deepest concerns of the human heart. It investigates the genre's use of an imagination that is sometimes atrophied by the demands of contemporary life, and explores how fantasy provides restoration, consolation and hope within a cultural context that too often decries such ideas. Each chapter focuses on a representative text, providing author background and engaging relevant scholarship on a variety of relevant thematic issues. Offering new insights on these classic texts by drawing upon post-secular critical approaches, this work is suitable for both new and seasoned students of fantasy.

Full Product Details

Author:   David S. Hogsette
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.20cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.308kg
ISBN:  

9781476682921

ISBN 10:   1476682925
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   04 August 2022
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. George MacDonald’s Phantastes: The Redemptive Imagination and the Quest for Sacrificial Love Chapter 2. Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter: Clashing Worldviews and Recovering Communion through Sacrificial Love Chapter 3. J.R.R. Tol­kien’s The Fellowship of the Ring: Understanding Good, Evil, Friendship, and Free Will Chapter 4. C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Fantasy as Evangelium and Apologia Chapter 5. Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story: Quenching Nihilistic Despair and Filling Postmodern Spiritual Voids with the Water of Life Chapter 6. Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea: Ethical Complexities in Dualistic Mythopoeic Fantasy Chapter 7. Fantasy SF: Galactic Quests and the Mythopoeic Struggle for Intergalactic Good in A Wrinkle in Time and Out of the Silent Planet Chapter Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

The interpretation of fantasy as an 'anti-reductionist' form of literature is insightful and important, and its application to the chosen examples is convincing and often elucidates them in ways that seem to me to get at the heart of what they truly are and why they are valuable. --Donald T. Williams, professor emeritus, Toccoa Falls College

Author Information

David S. Hogsette is a professor of English and the executive director of the School of English Studies at Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China, where he teaches a variety of courses on literature and literary research. He has published articles in Studies in Romanticism, Critique and Christianity and Literature.

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